Working at Tonnemakers and McCains

During high school, the only way for me to earn money during the summer in Royal City was to work in the fields. I was a farm laborer at the same domestic level as the Mexican workers. We did the same chores and worked the same schedule.For the first time in my life, I was at the bottom of the totem pole where the white people were not above the Mexicans (which is usually how it is in Royal). I was exposed to people who did hard physical labor every day of their life and that was how they made a living. I was lucky enough to only have to work on the farm for 3 months out of the year, but these workers couldn't leave because they had no formal education or any other skills that would be applicable to other jobs and for the most part, they were illegal immigrants or only had work visas, so they were not citizens of America. I had to adapt myself to their situation and learn to speak some Spanish in order to break down the communication barrier because they did not speak a lot of English. Furthermore, after my freshman year at EWU was over, I was unable to find a job in Cheney or Spokane, so I moved back home and got a job at McCain foods, which is the potato plant that produces McDonalds french fries. For 12 hours a day I was a sanitation worker, the very very bottom of the totem pole. I would use a pressure hose for 12 hours a day and wash potato slug off of the machines. It was the exact same situation as working the fields. I was one of 2 white people who had this job, the others were Mexicans. I feel very humble now because through those experiences I learned how to master a great work ethic and it gave me such a motivation to finish my education!